All eyes on relevance: strategic allocation of attention as a result of feature-based task demands in multiple object tracking

Multiple object tracking training affects the executive function in basketball players: the role of instant feedback

BACKGROUND

The present study aims to investigate the potential impact of eight sessions of Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) training on the executive function in basketball players. The purpose of the study was primarily to observe the effects of MOT training with and without feedback on the executive function of basketball players.

METHODS

A sample of fifty-eight participants was selected from college students enrolled in a university basketball special selection class. The participants were divided into three equal groups. The first group received MOT training with instant feedback and was called feedback group, the second group received MOT training without instant feedback and was called no feedback group, and the third group did not receive any intervention and was called control group.

RESULTS

After eight sessions of MOT training, feedback group demonstrated the best performance in the Go/No-go task and the 3-back task. After eight sessions of MOT training, there was no significant difference in test scores on the Stroop task between the feedback and no feedback groups. There was also no significant difference in test scores between the feedback and no feedback groups on the 2-back task after eight sessions of MOT training. The findings of this study suggest that MOT training can effectively enhance the executive function of basketball players.

CONCLUSIONS

MOT training was found to enhance the executive function of basketball players, irrespective of whether they received instant feedback. However, the feedback group exhibited superior improvements in the Go/No-go task and the 3-back task.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation enhances response inhibition and attention allocation in fencers

Background

The aim of this study is to investigate the acute effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on reaction time, response inhibition and attention in fencers.

Methods

Sixteen professional female fencers were recruited, and subjected to anodal tDCS and sham stimulation in the primary motor area (M1) one week apart in a randomized, crossover, single-blind design. A two-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze the effects of stimulation conditions (anodal stimulation, sham stimulation) and time (pre-stimulation, post-stimulation) on reaction time, response inhibition, and attention in fencers.

Results

The study found a significant improvement in response inhibition and attention allocation from pre-stimulation to post-stimulation following anodal tDCS but not after sham stimulation. There was no statistically significant improvement in reaction time and selective attention.

Conclusions

A single session of anodal tDCS could improve response inhibition, attention allocation in female fencers. This shows that tDCS has potential to improve aspects of an athlete's cognitive performance, although we do not know if such improvements would transfer to improved performance in competition. However, more studies involving all genders, large samples, and different sports groups are needed in the future to further validate the effect of tDCS in improving the cognitive performance of athletes.

Unequal allocation of overt and covert attention in Multiple Object Tracking

In many real-life contexts, where objects are moving around, we are often required to allocate our attention unequally between targets or regions of different importance. However, typical multiple object tracking (MOT) tasks, primarily investigate equal attention allocation as the likelihood of each target being probed is the same. In two experiments, we investigated whether participants can allocate attention unequally across regions of the visual field, using a MOT task where two regions were probed with either a high and low or with equal priority. Experiment 1 showed that for high-priority regions, accuracy (for direction of heading judgments) improved, and participants had more frequent and longer fixations in that region compared with a low-priority region. Experiment 2 showed that eye movements were functional in that they slightly improved accuracy when participants could freely move their eyes compared with when they had to centrally fixate. Replicating Experiment 1, we found better tracking performance for high compared with low-priority regions, in both the free and fixed viewing conditions, but the benefit was greater for the free viewing condition. Although unequal attention allocation is possible without eye movements, eye movements seem to improve tracking ability, presumably by allowing participants to fixate more in the high-priority region and get a better, foveal view of the objects. These findings can help us better understand how observers in real-life settings (e.g., CCTV monitoring, driving) can use their limited attentional capacity to allocate their attention unequally in a demand-based manner across different tracking regions.

Goal-directed unequal attention allocation during multiple object tracking

In standard multiple object tracking (MOT) tasks the relative importance of the targets being tracked is equal. This is atypical of everyday situations in which an individual may need to prioritize one target relative to another and so allocate attention unequally. We report three experiments that examined whether participants could unequally split attention using a modified MOT task in which target priority was manipulated. Specifically, we examined the effect of priority on participants' magnitude of error and used a distribution mixture analysis to investigate how priority affected both participants' probability of losing an item and tracking precision. Experiment 1 (trajectory tracking) revealed a higher magnitude of error and higher proportion of guessing for low- compared with high-priority targets. Experiments 2 (trajectory tracking) and 3 (position tracking) examined how fine-grained this ability is by manipulating target priority at finer increments. In line with Experiment 1, results from both these experiments indicated that participants could split attention unequally. There was some evidence that participants could allocate attention unequally at fine increments, but this was less conclusive. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate participants' ability to distribute attention unequally across multiple moving objects but suggest some limitation with the flexibility of attention allocation.

Hue distinctiveness overrides category in determining performance in multiple object tracking

The visual distinctiveness between targets and distractors can significantly facilitate performance in multiple object tracking (MOT), in which color is a feature that has been commonly used. However, the processing of color can be more than "visual." Color is continuous in chromaticity, while it is commonly grouped into discrete categories (e.g., red, green). Evidence from color perception suggested that color categories may have a unique role in visual tasks independent of its chromatic appearance. Previous MOT studies have not examined the effect of chromatic and categorical distinctiveness on tracking separately. The current study aimed to reveal how chromatic (hue) and categorical distinctiveness of color between the targets and distractors affects tracking performance. With four experiments, we showed that tracking performance was largely facilitated by the increasing hue distance between the target set and the distractor set, suggesting that perceptual grouping was formed based on hue distinctiveness to aid tracking. However, we found no color categorical effect, because tracking performance was not significantly different when the targets and distractors were from the same or different categories. It was concluded that the chromatic distinctiveness of color overrides category in determining tracking performance, suggesting a dominant role of perceptual feature in MOT.